Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 49

‘Is that guy a subordinate too?’

I etched the pickup guy’s face into my memory.

The escape incident happens in the movie theater.

Knowing that, if I combine the sentence Park Rahee just threw out, there’s only one answer.

【Opening Subordinate (Park Rahee) Observation Diary.txt】

————————

Morning – Seems to search for grasshopper after waking? Stole the tissue

11:00 AM – Quieter than usual throughout the meal.

12:00 PM – Suddenly fidgeting and attempting escape

(Why from this time?)

1:00 PM – Getting anxious starting from 15th escape attempt

1:30 PM – Went to fitting room, went to bathroom, total chaos. Anxiety symptoms worsening.

(Like someone facing a deadline. Does she have to move at a set time?)

2:30 PM – Got irritated with me at bookstore. Extremely anxious.

(Eyes are open but unfocused.)

(Seems to be summoning grasshopper? Can she summon even with people watching?)

(Left her alone for 5 minutes then spoke to her and she got irritated. Summoning takes at least 5 minutes?)

3:00 PM – Suddenly said she felt sick. She’s kind of lost it.

3:05 PM – Pickup guy approached. Park Rahee saw the guy’s wrist and her attitude changed. Delivered message: “Going to see a movie, time’s tight, see you inside.”

(Park Rahee has accomplices?)

(Why doesn’t an accomplice summon the grasshopper instead? Can only Park Rahee summon it?)

————————

For now I just roughly took notes, but analyzing them carefully later should yield plenty of hints.

Not a bad result for half a day’s work.

‘As expected, my baby’s the best, right?’

This is the lab rat strategy Gyeon Junhwi frequently employs.

The lab rat strategy means putting a rat in a maze and blocking every path the rat takes while observing what behaviors it exhibits.

My baby never eliminates enemies the moment he sees them.

He makes them act, blocks all their paths to corner them, captures their panic-induced mistakes under pressure, and obtains additional clues.

I tried imitating that, and wow!

I obtained hints about grasshopper summoning, met subordinate colleagues, and even caught signals they exchanged.

This is a much better harvest than expected.

As expected, my baby is truth itself.

Now, what remains is the final stage.

“Let’s hurry! The movie’s starting!”

* * *

Gyeon Junhwi was waiting in front of the movie theater.

And not empty-handed.

“What’s this?”

“Coffee.”

“You’re buying, Gyeon Junhwi?”

“And not even iced americano but mocha frappuccino?”

Gyeon Junhwi isn’t generous with spending.

No, to be blunt, he’s a penny-pincher.

Junhwi only opens his wallet for purchasing supplies and investing in the future.

He absolutely never spends money to show goodwill… this is strange.

Normally I’d observe the meaning behind this action or Junhwi’s subtle expression changes, but—

‘Let’s focus on my work right now.’

Right now I mustn’t do that.

I need to catch Park Rahee today.

Ultra-focus mode.

Right, even fangirling has a time and place.

“I’ll buy the popcorn.”

“S-Sora will?”

“I can do this much. Two people sharing one popcorn okay?”

After securing popcorn props like that, we entered the theater.

Seats were arranged: Lee Hyojun, Gyeon Junhwi, Han Boram, me, Park Rahee, Yeom Juwan, No Jitae.

Following the two-people-one-popcorn principle, I was sharing popcorn with Park Rahee.

The movie soon started.

The Azure Dragon Guild’s 72nd floor Tower raid footage, currently surging in popularity.

‘As expected, watching in a theater has different impact.’

The sound and screen are fantastic.

But thinking about how the monsters being slaughtered on screen are reality, not CG, still made me queasy.

Squeeze—

I’m tightly gripping Park Rahee’s hand even inside the theater.

Not because I’m worried about escape.

As if she’d run away during a movie.

I just wanted to confirm something while I was at it.

‘Maybe I can detect it in advance.’

I’m quite sensitive to mana.

Since I detected it every time Ha Seonwoo and Yoo Seoha used skills on me.

Seems like I can feel others’ mana touching my body too.

I decided to experiment with whether this only works for my babies, or if I can feel the subordinate’s mana too.

‘Summoning takes at least 5 minutes, right?’

According to the observation diary, summoning the grasshopper takes at least 5 minutes.

I checked on Park Rahee at 5-minute intervals.

When our eyes occasionally met, I’d hold out popcorn with a ‘Want some?’ gesture.

While continuing movie viewing combined with subordinate surveillance like that—

The movie reached its climax.

The appearance of the giant monster Leviathan.

“Oooooh!”

“Wow, holy shit! That’s insane.”

Reactions burst out from everywhere at those tremendous visuals.

The moment everyone’s eyes were fixed on the screen—

Swiiish—

I felt coldness and dampness from the hand clasped with Park Rahee’s.

As expected… I can feel the subordinate’s mana too?

I carefully turned my head to see Park Rahee’s eyes open but unfocused.

She was mumbling something with her mouth but no voice came out.

‘Let’s not interfere this time.’

The grasshopper needs to come out.

I’m just observing how it appears.

Park Rahee had her right hand placed near her collarbone area.

And about 10 minutes later, something wriggled out through the gaps between her fingers.

A grasshopper.

A grasshopper ‘made by the mastermind’ equipped with fly wings.

But its color is black.

The grasshopper that fell to the floor sat on the shoe of Yeom Juwan beside her and fluttered its wings.

Then its black body glowed fluorescent yellow.

No, how dare that thing act up on whose foot!!

My hand clenched involuntarily, but I barely held back and quietly just observed.

Hop—

Fortunately the grasshopper was moving away from Yeom Juwan.

Everyone seemed too absorbed in the screen to notice.

Park Rahee seemed drained, her eyes closed.

‘Can I clock out now?’

Subordinate and grasshopper observation was all complete.

I finished writing the observation diary, then obediently waited.

And when the movie was ending—

Fzzzzzt—

The screen suddenly went dark.

Now the next sequence begins.

* * *

The sudden screen shutdown.

The audience members in the theater murmured.

“What?”

“Why’d the screen suddenly go dark?”

“Damn, right at the important scene! I want a refund.”

Our group was also looking around.

The walking encyclopedia Lee Hyojun spoke first.

“This theater’s designed to force-stop screenings during earthquakes or natural disasters. Maybe an earthquake happened.”

“E-e-earthquake?”

“It’s okay, it has earthquake-resistant design so it won’t collapse.”

Hearing Lee Hyojun’s words, the other kids relaxed, but Gyeon Junhwi had a serious expression as he rested his chin.

“I hope that’s all it is… Everyone, could you check if communication’s working properly?”

“Communication?”

“My device is completely dead right now.”

The group all checked, and I checked too.

Of course, I already knew the result.

“Really? It’s dead!”

“DMs don’t work and I can’t access the academy system either!”

“What? Why is this happening?”

Toward the panicking kids, Gyeon Junhwi spoke with a very tense face.

“This might be a random thought, but… isn’t this similar to ‘that time’?”

“That time?”

“The awakening test.”

Lee Hyojun’s face turned pale.

“Right! During the awakening test incident, communication cut out first too!”

Lee Hyojun’s vocal volume is considerable.

Thanks to that, he drew everyone in the theater’s attention.

The murmuring cut off all at once into silence, and Gyeon Junhwi’s voice rang out in that quiet.

“I didn’t want to mention it and cause unnecessary worry… but I saw an outbreak opening right before my eyes. This is similar to that time.”

“B-but outbreaks have precursor symptoms, right? If it were a real outbreak, the alarm system would sound!”

“‘That time’ had no precursor symptoms either. But there was this ominous premonition…”

“You’re feeling that premonition now?”

Sounds of people gulping down saliva could be heard from everywhere.

A survivor of the awakening test incident.

And someone who saw an outbreak up close says the situation is similar.

They had no choice but to be tense.

‘No way… is it really opening?’

In the original, no outbreak opens.

Today only a small monster escape incident was scheduled.

Even knowing that, the tension in the air was so thick I was gripping my hands tight.

“It’s probably not that, but I think we should move assuming the worst.”

“That’s true.”

“If by any chance monsters appear… if we’re sitting in seats, we’ll get hit without being able to do anything. Let’s move to the front first.”

Our group moved to the very front of the theater, the empty space where the screen is.

Other audience members who’d been eavesdropping followed us too.

Some people were still uncertain, but then—

Boom—

A heavy sound reverberated throughout the theater.

The sound of a massive impact.

An obviously ominous sound.

“It, it came from the back, right?”

“Didn’t it sound like something hit the wall?”

“With that much impact…”

Contagious anxiety.

When only murmuring was spreading, only Gyeon Junhwi spoke with a calm voice.

“That sound came from the back entrance. Excluding that direction, let’s check if we can evacuate through other exits. Hyojun, come check the right side with me. Juwan, Jitae, please check the left exit. Considering the possibility of monsters outside, just check quietly and come back.”

“Got it.”

“Let’s go!”

My babies split in two and checked both entrances, but—

“No good! It’s locked!”

“That side too?”

Both exits were of course locked.

“So we’re trapped inside.”

As Gyeon Junhwi summarized the situation once more—

Boom—

Boom—

The impact sounds rang out again.

At faster intervals.

The ground was shaking violently.

Those vibrations intensified in a crescendo, building terror, when—

Kraaaaa—

An unmistakable monster roar echoed.

“Th-that just now…”

“A real outbreak?”

“H-how, we can’t even escape…”

The theater audience members made tearful faces.

Just like a flock of frightened sheep.

Dozens of terrified sheep looked at only one person who wasn’t shaking.

Only at Gyeon Junhwi.

“Unfortunately, evacuation isn’t an option. I hope the doors hold, but it’s better to move assuming the monsters outside will breach inside.”

With those words, Gyeon Junhwi opened his inventory and pulled out a ball of thread shaped like a dinosaur egg.

The walking encyclopedia recognized that thread ball.

“That’s… a nine-tailed fox nest? That’s a rare item! Where did you…”

“I crafted it myself. Listen carefully.”

Gyeon Junhwi turned his gaze to the crowd.

“No, everyone please listen. I’m going to build a shelter starting now. We’ll need to hide inside this until reinforcements arrive.”

Relief spread across people’s faces at the word shelter.

Gyeon Junhwi looked back toward us.

“This shelter has illusion effects, so it can disrupt monster vision, hearing, and even smell. Once you’re inside the nest, the monsters outside can’t see us, hear us, or smell us. But there’s one disadvantage…”

Here he paused for a breath before emphasizing.

“It can’t fool their sense of touch. If a monster makes direct contact with the nest, the illusion will break. Which means the shelter collapses.”

“Th-then…”

“To prepare for that case, we need combat-types. Hyojun, Jitae, Juwan, Sora, Boram. You five are combat-types, right? Do you have weapons?”

“Jitae and I have ones we borrowed for training.”

“I-I-I don’t need a weapon.”

“Me neither.”

“Take them out right now. And everyone else here.”

Gyeon Junhwi looked at the flock of sheep.

“Combat-types, raise your hands.”

Five people raised their hands.

“Even if you’re not combat-type, upperclassmen who’ve participated in combat parties?”

“…”

“Tch, all freshmen and non-combat types.”

There’s a reason the mastermind targeted this weekend.

The weekend when the entrance ceremony was held—NAKSA Mall is most crowded with freshmen.

Upperclassmen deliberately avoid this day.

Therefore, most of the sheep here are freshmen with no combat experience.

“Starting now, I’ll install the nest. We’ll form two rows. Combat-types in the front row, non-combat types in the back row.”

No one added a single word to Gyeon Junhwi’s statement.

He’s the person providing shelter.

This is the only way to survive.

‘Right, as expected he’s using the nine-tailed fox nest.’

As a sponsor, I’d predicted this far.

Gyeon Junhwi will become everyone’s savior and raise his recognition.

He’ll use this popularity as a springboard to triumph in the student council election.

Then what remains is when the monster bursts in, Ki Hyeonmin will handle the monster…

‘Huh? Wait!’

Only then did I realize I’d missed a very important fact.

I was too busy watching Gyeon Junhwi’s activity to pay attention to anything else.

Among the combat-types who raised their hands, anywhere in this theater.

Ki Hyeonmin isn’t here.

This incident is supposed to be handled by the regressor…

The regressor is absent.